Abstract
Cardiovascular complications are frequently observed in diabetic patients and are mostly caused by endothelial dysfunction associated with a decline in biosynthesis of nitric oxide (NO). In response to this concern, a remarkable increase in the interest for development of NO-releasing hybrid drugs has been observed. The NO-donating entity was linked to known drugs with the belief that NO is a vasorelaxant and an inhibitor of platelet aggregation or reduces thrombotic events. Many of these NO-releasing hybrid drugs have shown significant improvement in cardiovascular safety. In this editorial the potential roles of NO-releasing drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular complications in diabetes will be discussed.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The authors were supported by the Dianne and Irving Kipnes Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Grant no. MOP-14712 to E.E.K.). J Kaur and F Wuest thank the Alberta Cancer Foundation for a postdoctoral fellowship. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.